Thanks for the props, Tim. We may need to get the Spurs power forward in the book.

Best Way To Get Duncan To Open Up

By Chris Sheridan | ESPN.com

NEW YORK — Contrary to popular belief, Tim Duncan is actually a pretty interesting, talkative guy. It’s just a matter of catching him at the right time and bringing up the right subject.

And if the subject is classic cars, Duncan — who collects them and plans to collect more — is a virtual motormouth.

The Spurs’ shootaround had just ended, and Madison Square Garden was virtually empty Tuesday morning when ESPN.com asked Duncan to name his Fave Five classic cars — and not necessarily the ones he owns.

Duncan thought so long and hard before choosing his top 5, he actually listed them in descending order while also acknowledging that he is an occasional reader of Hemmings Motor News, the parts bible for classic car collectors.

Duncan does not have one of these early Motown muscle machines, but he is looking. And if he had a spare minute Thursday night in Detroit when the Spurs played the Pistons, he could have quizzed Pistons broadcaster Rick Mahorn on the merits of the ’66 GTO versus the ’71 GTO. (Mahorn owns a ’71 ragtop that he purchased new.)

Another one on Duncan’s wish list rather than in his garage, this muscle car was what Bo and Luke Duke were driving in the early ’80s TV series “The Dukes of Hazzard.” Cool Wikipedia fact: Of the 89,199 Chargers produced by Dodge for the 1969 model year, 260 were produced with sunroofs.

Duncan called this one a “lead sled” (say it so it rhymes), and he was entertained later in the day upon hearing a story of how this writer’s dad, Bob, was once a 14-year-old having a white-knuckle moment in the back seat of a brand new ’50 Merc when he and three friends drove from Wauwatosa to North Lake, Wisconsin, at speeds in excess of 100 mph back in ’50 or ’51. “Tell Tim that is a very fast car,” the senior Sheridan said.

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich did not have any white-knuckle moments to recall — only a heartbreaking one that any former teenaged baseball card collector can relate to — when discussing his most favorite car, a 1963 Chevrolet Impala SS with a 283, 4-barrel-engine that he owned when he was a high school student growing up in Merrillville, Indiana.

“I went off to the Air Force Academy, and my mom sold it,” Popovich said.

The GTO comment is an obvious mistake but has anyone thought it maybe the author’s error? Not everyone can write to Hemmings’ writers’ high standards and the author of this piece obviously knows nothing about cars, except for the Wikipedia fact that there were only 260 sunroof equipped Chargers in ’69.

Tim Duncan may well be the most literate person in the NBA today. I know, the bar isn’t that high, but I don’t see him making this kind of mistake on a subject that he even has a passing interest in. And I’m a Cavs fan…